Ballots vs. Big Servers: Local Votes Put AI Data Centers on the Line

What is heading to the ballot

Dozens of cities and counties are handing residents new levers to slow or stop server farm buildouts, from taxes to tougher permitting to flat bans. A Bloomberg review of Ballotpedia entries counted more than 40 data center items on Nov. 3 ballots.

Not every measure is a blanket no. Wilmington, Ohio voters will decide on rezoning land tied to a proposed Amazon.com Inc. facility. Grove City, Ohio could amend its charter so oversized projects - those above set thresholds for size, water demand and power use - must face a public vote. In Janesville, Wisconsin, a ballot initiative would require citizen approval for developments exceeding $450 million at a long-idled General Motors site.

Bans are very much on the table. The Los Angeles-area city of Alhambra is weighing a prohibition, mirroring action taken next door in Monterey Park. Across Ohio, roughly a dozen jurisdictions will consider ban measures, many targeting the largest facilities. Ohio leads, and about half of its measures are outright bans or moratoriums.

Flashpoints, recalls and billion dollar builds

Local fights are increasingly tied to specific projects and elected leaders. In Piqua, Ohio, where Meta is pursuing a data center, voters will decide whether to recall the mayor plus two city commissioners backing AI infrastructure in the city of roughly 20,000.

In Yukon, Oklahoma, residents will decide the fate of Mayor Brian Pillmore after his backing of Beltline Energy's proposed $1 billion complex situated along Route 66. Pillmore said he is open to public engagement while viewing the project as a rare long-term investment for a small city, estimating it could lift revenue by as much as 75%. "Cities like Yukon have to consider every card that they play," he said.

Other measures aim to change the process, not just the outcome. In Harwood, North Dakota, news of a $3 billion, 280 megawatt build by Applied Digital spurred resident Michael Swartz to draft a charter rewrite after the mayor signed a nondisclosure agreement with the company. Residents first learned of the plan in September 2025, and building started in under a month.

"A $3 billion decision coming into a community of 800 people shouldn't have took three weeks to do," he said. His Article X proposal would mandate disclosure, independent review, and opportunities for public participation for major projects.

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Important decisions are not confined to Nov. 3. And in Coweta County, Georgia, more than 14,000 signatures were submitted to overturn approval of a planned $17 billion campus and to ban future data centers; pending a judge's decision, that question could land on a January ballot.

Why the pushback, and the counterargument

AI has become an election issue because the infrastructure sits next to neighborhoods. A September Quinnipiac poll found that 72% would not want a data center in their community, an increase from 65% in March. Common concerns include noise and air impacts, higher utility bills, tax incentives for developers and NDAs that keep talks out of public view.

Developers are feeling the resistance. Data Center Watch reports that local opposition in the second quarter derailed at least 45 projects valued at $68 billion. The new referenda give opponents a formal way to weigh in, potentially putting hundreds of billions in future investment at risk and complicating life for hyperscalers like Meta Platforms Inc. and builders such as Applied Digital Corp.

Industry advocates argue these facilities are fiscal engines. The Data Center Coalition's executive vice president for state policy and government affairs, Dan Diorio, said data centers generate "significant" tax revenue that funds schools, transportation and public safety. He warned that restrictions will "send a signal that the area is closed for business" and "deprive local communities of the opportunity to compete for investment and jobs."

For organizers, the ballot is also about leverage. "Local ballot measures are a tool that people can access and use at a time when people are feeling helpless about some of these broader forces shaping our futures," said UCLA environmental political scientist Megan Mullin. She also pointed to the tradeoffs: curbs at the local level may push projects toward communities with weaker political power and limited organizing capacity, and "these kinds of measures bind the hands of future leadership in these localities, for better or worse."

One Nevada case shows the limits of local control. In Boulder City, activists halted a $3 billion data center slated for a tortoise preserve owned by the city, but the developer subsequently secured approval on an adjacent location overseen by the federal Bureau of Land Management. Voters there will still decide whether to allow data centers on the preserve, but jurisdictional lines matter.

The investor angle

For investors, these are not symbolic dust ups. They shape timelines, permitting risk and capital plans for projects counted in billions. The universe of investment exposed to local voting runs large, and many measures are tied to specific sites - from Piqua to Harwood to Coweta County - meaning pipelines can change at the ballot box.

It is also not all stoppage. Track the Nov. 3 ballots and the December and potential January votes to see where new guardrails emerge, where developers pivot and how municipal finance tied to these projects could shift.

Using new tools thoughtfully helps investors adapt when the landscape evolves. On 11/17, our CEO Jaspreet Singh goes live for our first ever investor livestream on how to use ChatGPT and Claude to invest like a pro. Register to join him.